Army frees 63 from Boko Haram

LAGOS: Nigeria’s military said on Thursday it had rescued 63 people after dislodging Boko Haram Islamists from villages in the country’s restive northeast.

Five Boko Haram fighters were also killed at their hideouts in Lawin Meleri, Matiri Bulaka and Aljeri villages during the clampdown, army spokesman Sani Usman said in a statement.

“During the operation, they [troops] killed five Boko Haram terrorists and also rescued 63 persons held captive by the terrorists,” he said, adding that arms and ammunitions were recovered.

The military said government troops also destroyed a Boko Haram “spiritual power base” at the Alagarno forest in Borno state, the heartland of the insurgency.

“The troops, based on tip-off, conducted a clearance operation around Alagarno forest general area, destroying terrorists camps at Mosa, Ariwuzumari and Kagalmari as well as Missene, Joba, Yajiwa and Sansan,” the military said.

“During the operations, the troops were able to clear all the camps, killing quite a number of terrorists and recovered Boko Haram terrorists’ flags hoisted on some premises, destroyed their logistics base and recovered 31 motorcycles, assorted foodstuffs, a donkey and a pick up van,” the statement said.

A cache of arms and ammunitions were also recovered during the operation, it said.

Since 2009, the Boko Haram insurgency to carve out an Islamic state in northeast Nigeria has left at least 17,000 dead and left some 2.6 million others homeless.

A regional force involving troops from Nigeria, Chad, Cameroon, Niger and Benin is to deploy to fight the extremists.